So you've been playing Windrose solo and you've built up a world you're proud of. Maybe you've got a solid base, decent gear, and you don't want to start fresh just because you're moving to a dedicated server. Good news, you can upload your singleplayer save. It takes a few minutes and some care with file paths, but it's straightforward. If you do not have a server yet, you can spin up a Windrose server with us and upload straight into it.
Where Windrose Saves Live on Your PC
Windrose stores all its save data in your local AppData folder:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\<YourProfile>\
To get there, press Win + R, type %LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles and hit Enter. On Steam and Epic, your profile folder is named after your Steam ID. On Stove it's called StoveDefault.
Open it and you'll see several folders with confusingly similar names. Update 0.10.0.5.120 changed this layout, so which one holds your world depends on when the save was made:
| Folder | What it is |
|---|---|
RocksDB |
Main saves from before update 0.10.0.5.120 |
RocksDB_v2 |
Runtime files the game uses while it's running, added in 0.10.0.5.120. Do not touch this folder. |
RocksDB_v2_Backups |
Backups made after update 0.10.0.5.120 |
<YourProfile>_Backups |
Backups made before update 0.10.0.5.120 |
If you've updated the game and launched it at least once, migration runs automatically and your saves should appear inside RocksDB_v2_Backups. If they haven't, they're still in RocksDB.
So the world you want is in one of these two places:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\<YourProfile>\RocksDB\<GameVersion>\Worlds\<WorldID>\
%LOCALAPPDATA%\R5\Saved\SaveProfiles\<YourProfile>\RocksDB_v2_Backups\<GameVersion>\Worlds\<WorldID>\
The <GameVersion> folder corresponds to the game version the world was created under (for example 0.10.0), and <WorldID> is a unique identifier for that specific world. You might have several world folders if you've started multiple playthroughs. Sort by date modified and pick the most recent one. If you're pulling from RocksDB_v2_Backups, look for the _Latest backup.
Take note of the <WorldID> value. You'll need it later.
One thing worth repeating, because it's the most common way this goes wrong: leave RocksDB_v2 alone. It holds runtime files, not your save. Copying it across to a server is how people end up with a world that won't load.
Before You Do Anything
Two things. Both important.
Shut everything down first. Stop your server at control.low.ms, and fully close the Windrose client as well. Both the game and the server write to these files actively, so copying them while either is running is asking for a corrupted save.
Back up the server's existing save. Even if the server is fresh and there's nothing worth keeping, build the habit. In the LOW.MS Control Panel, go to Cloud Backup in the sidebar and create a backup. Takes seconds, saves headaches.
Where the World Goes on the Server
The destination is the same regardless of which folder you copied from. Server worlds always live under RocksDB, even when your local copy came out of RocksDB_v2_Backups:
R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<GameVersion>/Worlds/
Note the Default profile folder. Dedicated servers don't use a Steam ID here the way your client does.
Uploading via File Manager
The panel's built-in File Manager works fine for this:
- Log into control.low.ms and select your Windrose server
- Click File Manager in the sidebar
- Navigate to
R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<GameVersion>/Worlds/ - If there's already a world folder here from the server's first boot, you can either replace its contents or delete it and upload yours
- Upload your entire
<WorldID>folder from your local machine
Do not rename the world folder while you're doing this. The database relies on that ID, and renaming it orphans the save. If you've already done it, our world corruption guide walks through getting it back.
The File Manager handles folder uploads, but if your save is large, and Windrose saves can grow substantially once you've built a lot, SFTP will be faster.
Uploading via SFTP
SFTP is available on port 8822. You'll need a client like WinSCP or FileZilla. Your connection details are in Service Settings on the panel.
Connect with these settings:
- Protocol: SFTP
- Host: your server's address (shown in Service Settings)
- Port: 8822
- Username/Password: same as your panel credentials for this service
Once connected, navigate to the same path on the server side:
R5/Saved/SaveProfiles/Default/RocksDB/<GameVersion>/Worlds/
Drag your local world folder across. SFTP handles large transfers more reliably than the browser-based File Manager, and you get a proper progress bar.
Updating ServerDescription.json
This is the step people forget, and then they wonder why the server loads a blank world.
You need to tell the server which world to load. Open ServerDescription.json, which lives in the R5/ directory at the root of your server files. You can edit it through Configuration Files in the panel sidebar or directly through File Manager.
Find the WorldIslandId field (some versions spell it WorldIslandID, so match whatever is already in your file) and set it to the exact <WorldID> folder name you uploaded. If these don't match, the server will either create a new empty world or fail to load properly.
{
"WorldIslandId": "EC10598E83A14ED04D9C44CBFBF3F4B1"
}
Save the file.
Starting Up
Start your server back up from the panel. Give it a couple of minutes for the first load with your imported save. It'll be slower than a normal boot since the server needs to index the world data.
Check Web Console to watch the startup logs. Once you see the server fully loaded, grab your invite code from the panel and connect.
One thing to watch for: when you launch the game client after doing a save transfer, Windrose might ask whether to use your Local or Cloud save. Pick Local. If you pick Cloud, it could overwrite your transferred world with an older cloud backup. Your world should be there, structures, progress, all of it.
A Few Things to Know
The RocksDB format Windrose uses isn't something you can casually browse or edit with a text editor. It's a binary database format. You're essentially moving opaque data files between locations, which is fine for transferring worlds but means you can't cherry-pick specific structures or items from a save.
Version mismatches can cause problems. The <GameVersion> folder name has to line up with what the server is actually running, and a save from an older build may not load on a newer one. Keep client and server on the same version, and use Steam Update in the panel to update the server.
If something goes wrong after uploading, that's what your backup is for. Go to Cloud Restore, pick the backup you made earlier, and you're back to where you started. For more details on server configuration, check the configuration guide.